The interesting thing about this episode of Dallas is how gut-wrenching it was to see Pamela writhe in her bed as she and we were forced to watch her babies’ heart monitors flatline – just cruel – despite the fact that the twists leading up to the moment were, frankly, not exactly graceful. It’s life and death! Commercial. It’s totally going to be okay. And repeat. Did they have me thinking everything would work out fine somehow? Yes. But in the end, they also had me feeling like the show hadn’t truly earned that level of reaction from me.

We began with everyone coming to after the explosion. I’ll admit, my first thought was, “No, not the face!” spying John Ross’ abrasions. Things turned serious when he spotted Pamela with a steel beam and other debris on top of her. She had her hands on her pregnant belly, but they were no match for that. It almost made my stomach turn. But cue the music!

At the hospital, we learned that no one had died. Pamela was the most seriously injured, others just had smoke inhalation and broken bones. Bobby ran through the hospital looking for Ann, who had a concussion, and the good news: The tragedy had made him forgive her for not telling him about Emma and her kidnapping (which Ann apologized for again and blamed on her feeling ashamed and not wanting Bobby to hate her).

Emma was at the hospital to see Ann, but Harris ran into her first and told her that her grandmother had a fall and broke her leg. She was in surgery. “I miss you, Emma,” Harris said. “I know,” Emma answered. Ouch! That man will need stitches for that stab wound to the heart.

Drew and Elena’s mother arrived, and he was obviously upset seeing what his handiwork had caused. He said he needed air and drove off to find Harris’ muscle, who brilliantly blamed him for setting the bomb for the wrong time. The guy told Drew he needed to leave in the morning before he ended up in jail or worse.

The doctor finally updated Christopher and Pamela on her condition: She recommended terminating the pregnancy because Pamela had suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which they needed to repair or she’d die, and where the fetuses sat made that difficult. The trauma had also resulted in a partial placental eruption, and at 20 weeks, there was only a 15 percent chance of her carrying the twins to viability. Because they’re not viable, she told them to save Pamela instead of risk losing all three. The doctor wanted Christopher’s permission incase Pamela became incapacitated. “You promise me, you promise me you won’t let them kill my babies. Promise me, no matter what,” she yelled.

It seemed hopeless… until we returned from the commercial break. Bobby told Christopher the chief of surgery suggested they do the repair by going through a vein, as they’d done with him, so the babies would be untouched. Elena said she had the state’s best neonatologist on his or her way in from Austin. Christopher was still inconsolable because the only reason for the explosion he could think of was that he’d rushed the test to get the transportation deal, and there was a carbon dioxide buildup that put the methane under too much pressure and it ignited. Bobby and Elena told him he’d never put people’s lives at risk like that and they’d find out that it wasn’t his fault.